Amber Guyger murder trial enters 2nd week
DALLAS - Sunday marked what would have been Botham Jean's 28th birthday. Monday morning, his family will return to the courtroom for the start of week two of the Amber Guyger murder trial.
Guyger took the stand on Friday, saying she believed Jean was in her apartment when she shot and killed him. He was actually sitting in his own unit one floor up.
The defense has not rested its case, and could continue calling more witnesses Monday.
We already heard from Amber Guyger, herself, as the first witness for the defense. She testified during an emotional three hours on the stand Friday.
“I wish he was the one with the gun that killed me. I never wanted to take an innocent person's life. I'm so sorry,” Guyger said during her testimony.
Guyger testified that Botham Jean was coming toward her and she feared for her life, yelling, "Let me see your hands," before shooting him.
She said she did some chest compressions, using her left hand while calling 911, then stopped CPR altogether to text her then-partner, with whom she was in a sexual relationship, to say, "I need help."
The prosecution argued that she was only concerned about herself, and provided records that she had just taken an eight-hour de-escalation course, and had the training to know she could have taken cover and called for backup if she did believe Jean to be a burglar, rather than shoot him.
The defense then presented neighbors who testified about just how confusing the apartment complex can be. One admitted that he too once went into the wrong apartment.
Texas Ranger David Armstrong, the lead investigator in the case, who was also called to testify for the state, returned to the stand Saturday as an expert for the defense.
He talked about what it might have been like for Guyger in those moments before she pulled the trigger.
"You may not hear at the normal volume that you normally would because you're under stress. You may have vision narrowing or tunnel vision, which means you are only focusing on what is directly in front of you, not in your periphery. You may also experience short term memory loss," he said.
It's unclear whether jurors will hear from another expert for the defense, Craig Miller.
The retired Dallas police deputy chief testified without the jury present Saturday that Guyger could have experienced "inattentional blindness."
"It's the tendency of the human brain to filter out visual images that are not relevant to the primary target," he explained.
The judge has not allowed defense experts, Miller and Armstrong, to share their opinions with the jury.
Armstrong said that he does not believe Guyger committed a crime, and Miller said her actions were reasonable.
Day seven of the trial begins Monday at 9:30 a.m., an hour later than usual for the trial.